Abstract: This paper describes the concept, technical realisation and validation of a largely data-driven method to model events with Z -> tau tau decays. In Z -> μμevents selected from proton-proton collision data recorded at root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2012, the Z decay muons are replaced by tau leptons from simulated Z -> tau tau decays at the level of reconstructed tracks and calorimeter cells. The tau lepton kinematics are derived from the kinematics of the original muons. Thus, only the well-understood decays of the Z boson and tau leptons as well as the detector response to the tau decay products are obtained from simulation. All other aspects of the event, such as the Z boson and jet kinematics as well as effects from multiple interactions, are given by the actual data. This so-called tau-embedding method is particularly relevant for Higgs boson searches and analyses in tau tau final states, where Z -> tau tau decays constitute a large irreducible background that cannot be obtained directly from data control samples. In this paper, the relevant concepts are discussed based on the implementation used in the ATLAS Standard Model H -> tau tau analysis of the full datataset recorded during 2011 and 2012.

Abstract: The integrated and differential fiducial cross sections for the production of a W or Z boson in association with a high-energy photon are measured using pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV. The analyses use a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb(-1) collected by the ATLAS detector during the 2011 LHC data-taking period. Events are selected using leptonic decays of the W and Z bosons [W(e nu, μnu) and Z(e(+)e(-), mu(+)mu(-), nu(nu) over bar)] with the requirement of an associated isolated photon. The data are used to test the electroweak sector of the Standard Model and search for evidence for new phenomena. The measurements are used to probe the anomalous WW gamma, ZZ gamma, and Z gamma gamma triple-gauge-boson couplings and to search for the production of vector resonances decaying to Z gamma and W gamma. No deviations from Standard Model predictions are observed and limits are placed on anomalous triple-gauge-boson couplings and on the production of new vector meson resonances.

Abstract: Measurements of normalized differential cross-sections of top-quark pair production are presented as a function of the top-quark, t (t) over bar system and event-level kinematic observables in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV. The observables have been chosen to emphasize the t (t) over bar production process and to be sensitive to effects of initial-and final-state radiation, to the different parton distribution functions, and to non-resonant processes and higher-order corrections. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1), recorded in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in the lepton+jets channel, requiring exactly one charged lepton and at least four jets with at least two of the jets tagged as originating from a b-quark. The measured spectra are corrected for detector effects and are compared to several Monte Carlo simulations. The results are in fair agreement with the predictions over a wide kinematic range. Nevertheless, most generators predict a harder top-quark transverse momentum distribution at high values than what is observed in the data. Predictions beyond NLO accuracy improve the agreement with data at high top-quark transverse momenta. Using the current settings and parton distribution functions, the rapidity distributions are not well modelled by any generator under consideration. However, the level of agreement is improved when more recent sets of parton distribution functions are used.